TIM Teams Best Practices

About TIM Teams Best Practices

TIM Teams Best Practices provides an overview of IM Team Programs throughout the I-95 Corridor. The sharing of these practices assists Member States in identifying and potentially establishing such programs. Included are identification and description of dedicated IM Team Programs in the Corridor and throughout the United States and internationally including MOUs; IM Team protocols for major events and incidents; how to establish and enact the programs including necessary training and operational implementation; and source identification and analysis of statistics provided by involved entities to assess the impact of the IM Team programs. Also addressed are training and certification, safety issues, communications, response requirements, consideration of volunteer response, assignments of Teams when not responding to incidents/events; reporting requirements, incident timelines, and incident command practices including staging of tow operators.

For this report, the project Team met with and interviewed TIM Team representatives from states throughout the Coalition as well as several states elsewhere to gather background information and to learn about Teams.

Not surprisingly, the research into TIM Teams throughout the Corridor, and elsewhere, yielded some fascinating results. Perhaps the most common thread connecting Teams everywhere—from large, well established Teams to those just getting off the ground—is the unyielding dedication and passion of TIM Team leaders and members. These individuals truly believe in the benefits of coordinated incident management, and they devote large amounts of time and energy—often on a volunteer basis—to TIM initiatives. These individuals are crossing boundaries and encouraging interaction and strong working relationships among stakeholders who, in the past, may not always have seen eye to eye, and that’s, fundamentally what TIM Teams are about—exercising the “4Cs” of TIM (communication, cooperation, coordination, and consensus).